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Food

31st Jul 2019

Grazing tables: the wedding food trend set to take over Ireland in 2020

Jade Hayden

“People are thinking more about what they’d like for themselves.”

Are you getting married next year? Do you know somebody else who’s getting married next year?

Have you got a friend, sister, aunt, uncle, brother, or cousin on your mam’s side twice removed who might be tying the knot?

If so, you better tell them to get themselves a grazing table (or seven) for their big day – because they’re set to be all the rage in 2020.

Weddings have changed a lot in Ireland over the past few years.

Long gone are the days of inevitable two-hour ceremonies, heading back to the country hotel for a few sandwiches, and settling in for a nice slab of beef or salmon.

Nowadays, a lot of couples in Ireland are choosing their wedding food based on what they like to eat, not what’s expected of them to serve.

Confetti Magazine editor and author of The Wedding Planner Laura Cunningham says that the biggest change in wedding food trends is that people are getting far less traditional.

“Food is starting to reflect the day itself,” she tells Her.

“A lot more people are opting to have more casual weddings that aren’t just in a church or a hotel. They’re having them in their homes or on glamping sites, or castles – and the food reflects this.

“There’s also a lot more sharing plates and food trucks. It’s a family style of eating that people are really getting into these days.”

Enter the grazing table: a fancy buffet-style meal that lets people pick and choose a treat whenever they so please instead of having to rely on just one dish.

Think salads, think curry, think falafel, chicken, cod, chips, and pizza straight from hired food trucks out the back.

And it makes sense too, considering that a lot of people have admitted to eating food at weddings that they don’t even like.

New research compiled by Domino’s shows that 50 percent of people have been fed wedding food that they weren’t all that into, with 71 percent saying that they would serve their favourite food at their own wedding.

And for most people, this does end up being pizza.

Laura says that the grazing platter is a great idea for this very reason – so guests can take what they like, when they like, and everybody’s kept happy.

“People are going for grazing tables at every event, not just weddings,” she says.

“You’ve got this massive big table instead of all this individual food and people can just take what they want from the platters.

“It makes a lot more sense.”